Emotionally focused Couples Therapy

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is a short term (8 to 20 sessions) structured approach to couples therapy formulated in the 1980’s by Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg. This approach is also used with families and individuals. Interventions in EFT integrate a humanistic, experiential approach to restructuring emotional experience and a systemic structural approach to restructuring interactions.  It is based on the first coherent and substantially validated theory of adult love – attachment theory. This explanatory framework allows for a coherent understanding of the drama of distress, the goals of therapy and the key moves and moments that define love relationships. EFT is able to address the strengths of the bond between partners. It views relationship distress as maintained by absorbing states of negative emotion (S. Johnson, 2013)